Photos from the Performance on July 18th, 2013 at the Neighborhood House, Northeast Harbor

Photos from the Performance on August 22nd, 2013 at The Grand, Ellsworth(Photo Credit: Chris Dougherty)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is without a doubt one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays and it is with great pleasure that the Harborside Shakespeare Company presents it to you this year! Rehearsing, designing and traveling with this comedy has been a delight, and we are overjoyed at the opportunity to tour this play to so many wonderful venues throughout Maine.

We hope that this evening you will be swept up in the magic and the mystery of a forest filled with enchanted characters: lovers, fairies, dukes, Amazon queens and even, perhaps, a few aspiring thespians.

Tonight, intertwined with Shakespeare’s classic text are several signature HSC flourishes. You’ll see many dances which illustrate the story, a shifting environment that transforms from city to forest, costumes from our contemporary world and music to accent Shakespeare’s words. Other pieces of our modern culture have found their way into our play; Lysander is portrayed as a woman, making Hermia and Lysander a same-sex couple faced with inequality in society. The music you hear might be familiar and even feature a top-forty song or two.

Here at the HSC, we feel that Shakespeare’s stories, words and characters are as relevant today as when he first wrote his plays. As you follow the lovers, fairies and rude mechanicals on their adventures tonight, we hope you will see Shakespeare in a new light and experience the power of laughter along the way.